


Promises

by waterbird13



Series: Tumblr Fics [98]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alcohol, Gen, Grief, Healing, Howard and Maria's death, Hurt/Comfort, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-07-29 17:54:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7693882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterbird13/pseuds/waterbird13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peggy calls Tony after Maria and Howard die. It's Tony's last lifeline to cling to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promises

**Author's Note:**

> This is another piece from Tumblr.
> 
> Warnings include: character death (canonical, Maria and Howard), hurt/comfort, underage Tony drinking, and grief.

The first call comes two days after the accident, and it’s fortunate to come between a lull in the drunkenness, so Tony’s coherent enough to answer, even if he is sloppy.

“Tony?” She asks. “Tony, how are you, darling?”

Tony recognizes the voice well enough, Aunt Peggy. He’s always liked her, mostly because she always seemed to be the person most capable of standing against…he doesn’t want to think about him right now, Tony decides. Not when he doesn’t know how he feels.

Tony didn’t see her that often as a child. She’s a busy lady, after all. Still, she was always nice. Always genuinely wanted to hear about him and his life, and that left an impression.

“How’re you, Tony?”

“I’m fine.”

“Tony.”

She’s always had a voice that could crumble anyone. Tony thinks it’s a wonder there are any terrorists and criminals left in the world with Aunt Peggy out there.

“I miss my Mom,” he admits, hoping she doesn’t hear the tears but knowing she probably does. “How…I keep waking up and wanting my mom to be there, which is so stupid because she wasn’t even when she was alive, but now…”

“Oh, darling,” she says softly, sadly. “I know. I know.”

“I mouthed off to Dad before they left,” Tony admits. “I…I could never make things right with him.”

“That’s not all on you, Tony,” she says. “You both did your best, and Howard was shit at showing it, but he cared about you. You can take all the time you need to figure out how to deal with this.”

“How do you make it stop hurting, Aunt Peggy?” Tony asks. She’s lost people before. She’s lost Captain America before, and she’s long married and happy now, but Tony knows from her stories that Steve Rogers, Captain America, will always be her first love.

“Time,” she says eventually. “It takes time, Darling. And then it comes back. A smell, a food, a phrase. And it hurts, but you’ve gotten through it before, and you can do it again. And you keep doing that. Fill the empty spaces with good things. That’s how we keep moving, Darling.”

Tony doesn’t say how that seems so far away, so impossible right then. Tony thinks she knows anyways.

“Do you think you can sleep, Darling?” She asks. “I think you need it.”

“I…I don’t know…haven’t been.”

“Lie down,” she instructs. “Close your eyes.”

And then she tells him a story, a story about Captain America and the Howling Commandos, just like she did when she visited when he was small.

Just when his eyes are drifting, his brain getting soft and languid, the story ends. “Go to sleep, Darling,” she whispers. “I’ll call again in the morning.”

There have been so many people who have made Tony promises in his life. Multitudes, really. And most have broken them.

Peggy Carter is not one of those people.


End file.
